“Kurt [Russell] is extraordinarily brilliant and creative and collaborative — not in the kitchen,” Goldie Hawn tells Variety when discussing her partner of 40 years. Goldie, 77, spoke with Variety‘s Tatiana Siegel ahead of the 95th Academy Awards, and while Goldie “kept her words brief” about Kurt, 71, the Oscar-winner heaped praise upon her better half. “But really, he’s just amazing,” said Goldie.
The subject of Kurt and Goldie’s exchange during the 1989 Oscars came up during the convo with Siegel. At the time, the couple was tapped to present the Best Director award. When onstage at the podium, Goldie said that Kurt and she were “costars, compadres, companions, and a couple.” “There’s only one thing we’re not,” said Kurt before adding, “– married.” Goldie laughed and asked, “Is that a proposal?” Before Kurt could continue, he began presenting the award – leaving Goldie somewhat shocked.
This was all a ruse. The couple came up with the bit hours before the ceremony because they didn’t like the dialogue written for them. “We’re taking a shower together, getting ready to go,” Russell told Variety, “and we looked at each other and said, ‘There’s gonna be a lot of people watching, so let’s get this right.’ And we started punching it back and forth for about 20 minutes. We didn’t tell anybody anything about going off-script.”
Though Goldie’s reaction and Kurt’s nervous laughter seemed real, it wasn’t (which shows why Goldie is an Oscar-winner, having taken Best Support Actress for Cactus Flower in 1970.) “At that time, we constantly got asked, ‘When are you going to get married? Why aren’t you married?’ And we were like, ‘Why does anybody care about that?’ We’d asked our kids if they cared about it. They didn’t. We didn’t,” said Kurt.
Goldie and Kurt’s kids – Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Boston Russell, and Wyatt Russell – have blessed them with seven grandchildren. Goldie shared the advice she’s started to share with this younger generation. “You’ve got to work for a living, stay compassionate and stay realistic,” she says. “And I’m passing that on because that was what my father taught me: Stay in reality. Don’t get taken away with everything. The rest of it is up to them. Being there for them and knowing that they’re going to have to work stuff out themselves, as hard as it is.”
Goldie spoke about how “hard” it was to raise her kids while being one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. ” once said to my father, ‘Daddy, I just want to be normal.’ And I remember him saying to me, ‘Well, isn’t your life normal?’ ‘No.’ You’re being recognized all the time, and you have children with you — that’s an invasion. I just wanted to be a mom,” she told Variety. “I didn’t want to have to deal with that. Mothers were to me the most important thing ever.”